There were protesters outside the New York state capitol as Governor Andrew Cuomo gave his daily update. A reporter told Cuomo the demonstrators said they were not receiving unemployment funds and could not feed their families.
Similar anti-lockdown protests have occurred across the US, with demonstrators often quoting President Donald Trump’s line that “the cure cannot be worse than the disease”.
Cuomo responded: “How can the cure be worse than the illness if the illness is potential death?”
He said emotional stress, economic hardships, even rising domestic violence are all “very bad, but not death”.
“You’re now responsible for my life,” he said, adding: “What if it was your family that might get infected?”
The governor also promised unemployment payments would be coming in “a couple of days”.
“You wanna go to work? Go take a job as an essential worker,” Cuomo suggested.
